Symptoms of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Drinking too much alcohol over a long period of time can cause a buildup of fat in your liver, a condition known as alcohol-associated liver disease. This disease can eventually lead to scarring of liver tissue, known as cirrhosis. Liver function can also decrease depending on how much scarring occurs.
Fatty tissue can also build up in your liver if you drink little or no alcohol. This is known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Severe forms of NAFLD can also lead to cirrhosis.
NAFLD and alcoholic-associated liver disease fall under the umbrella term of fatty liver disease, but their causes and treatments differ. Read on for more information on NAFLD, including how to manage it with lifestyle changes.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: NAFL vs NASH
There are two types of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Currently, researchers aren’t sure why an individual develops one or the other. It’s possible to be diagnosed with one form, and then later the other.
NAFL
When you are diagnosed with NAFL, you have fat in your liver, but little to no inflammation and no liver damage. While this condition can cause pain due to enlargement of the liver, it typically doesn’t cause liver damage.
NASH
NASH is a more serious form of NAFLD. If you are diagnosed with NASH, you most likely have inflammation in the liver in addition to fat, and may even have liver damage. This damage can cause scarring in the liver. Untreated NASH may eventually lead to cirrhosis, which when left untreated may lead to liver cancer.
Symptoms of NAFLD
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